^ms»^sr 



AISD GARDEINER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH liRECK & CO., NO. 52 NOllTH MARKET SI'KEET, (AniMci'i.TURAL Wapehocse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



W ^1.. XV, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 1, 1837. 



N( . 34. 



/For the ^ew I^Lngtand Farmer.) 

 KKW SORT OP INDIAN CORN. 



C HdusE OF Rkpkfskntatives, 

 I Feb. 15, 18:!7. 



T. G. Ff.ssf.nden, Esq., 



Dear Sir: — I am itKlclited to the Hon. Henry 

 L. Ellsworth, Coninii.'isidiiirof Piitrntsiii this city: 

 for a small quantity of liidian (Jorii — a <les(;ri|)- 

 tion of which you have in a letter to Mr Ellsworth 

 from Thomas N. Builen, Esq. of iMaryl:iii<l — and 

 also in a letter adflresseil to myself from Mr Ells- 

 worth, both of which I now enclose. The pack- 

 age of com I have sent by John H. Dexter, 1-sq., 

 of Boston, and will thank you to make such dis- 

 pusition of it as you may deem projier. 

 I remain, Dear Sir, 



Your ob't servant, 



Abbott Lawrence. 



Patent Oi-fice, Ja.n. 30, 1837. 



Sir : Hearing of some srreat improvements that 

 had been made in the common corn, I addressed 

 II letter to Mr Baden, a histhly respectable gentle- 

 man in Maryland, to ascertain what facts 1 could 

 on the subject. 



His letter is very iiiterestins, and I transmit you 

 n copy of it. Thi3 experiment of Mr Baden show.-! 

 most cleatly what can be done to improve seeds, 

 by carefully selecting each year the best kind 

 raised, 'i'lieoreiical opinions sustain Mr Baden: 

 but few e.xjierimeius have been tried so siiccess- 

 fnlly. What might be effocted for agriculture by 

 similar efforts ? 



The like efforts in improving the breed of aiii- 

 mals,have been crowne<l with great succe.ss, es- 

 iiecially in Europe. I avail myself of this oppor- 

 tunity to send you a small sample of the corn men- 

 tioned by Mr Baden. I will only add, that I 

 have conversed with several persons who have 

 planted the " Baden " coin ; ami the concurrent 

 opinion of all, sustains the statements made in the 

 letter. I have a few samples at the Patent Office, 

 of corn raised in this neighborhood, which has 

 four and five ears on a stalk ; and [ expect soon 

 some stalks containing six, seven and eight ears. 

 If this corivwere generally introduced, how great- 

 ly the amount of bread stuffs might be increased, 

 without amy extra labor. I hope some puhlic-sjiir- 

 ited citizens vvill try to imiu-ove wheat, oats, bar- 

 ley anil other grains. 



I avail myself of the opportunity to mention 

 the introduction of Italian spring wheat with great 

 success. A friend of mine, in Connecticut, raiseil 

 the last year, forty bushels on an acre. This grain 

 is heavy ; makes good flour ; yields well ; aiul 

 the crop avoids all the danger of winter freezing. 

 1 have ordered a quantity of this corn and wheat 

 to be shipped to Indiana, and intend to try both 

 on the fine soil of the Wabash valley, the ensuing 

 summer. I am yours, very respectfully, 



Henrt L. Ellsworth. 



N. B. Be careful to plant this corn in a place 



by itself. When good sped is planted in a field 

 with ]ioor seed, the former wdl degenerate. 



H. L. E. 



[copy of MR EAPF.n's LETTER.] 



( Near Nottingham, Prince George's 

 { Co., Jan. 26, 1837. 



Sir: — I received yours of the 14th, making in- 

 quiry respecting the " Maryland corn," which you 

 urderstoof! I had raiseil. I have the pleasure to 

 say that I have brought this corn to its high state 

 of perfection, by carefully selecting the best seed 

 in the field for a long course of years, having es- 

 pecial reference to those stalks which produced 

 the most ears. When the corn was husked, I 

 then made a re-selection, taking only that which 

 appeared sound and fully ripe, having a regard to 

 the deepest and best color, as well as to the size 

 of the cob. In the spring, before shelling the corn, 

 I examined it again, and selected that which was 

 the best in all respects. In shellingthe corn, I omit- 

 ted to take the irregular kernels at both the large 

 and small ends. I have carefully followed this mode 

 of selecting seed corn for twenty-two or twenty- 

 three years, and still continue to do so. When I 

 first commenced, it was with a common kind of 

 «orn, for there was none other in this part of the 

 country. If any other person Undertook the same 

 experiment, I did not iiear of it; I do not b'-lieve 

 others ever exer ised the patience to bring the 

 experiment to the present slate of perfection At 

 first, I was troubled to f nd stalks with even two 

 good ears on them, perhaps one good ear and one 

 small one, or one good ear and "a nubbin." It 

 was several years before I could discover much 

 benefit resulting from my efforts ; however, at 

 length the quality and quantity began to improve, 

 and the improvement was then very rapid. At 

 present, 1 do not pretend to lay up any seed with- 

 out it comes from stalks which bear four, five, or 

 six ears. I have seen stalks bearing eight ears. 

 One of my neighbors informed me that he liad a sin- 

 gle stalk with ten perfect ears on it, and that he 

 intended to send the same to the museum at Bal- 

 timore. In addition to the nundjer of ears, anil 

 of course the great increase in quantity nnshelled, 

 it may be mentioned, that it yields much more 

 than common corn when shelled. Some gentle- 

 men, in whom I have full confidence, informed me 

 they shelled a barrel (10 bushels of ears) of my kind 

 of corn, which measured a little more than six 

 bushels. The common kind of corn will measure 

 about five bushels only. I believe I ra'se double 

 or nearly so, to what I could with any other corn 

 I have ever seen. I generally plant the corn 

 about the first of May, and p!ace the hills five feet 

 apart each way, and have two stalks in a hill. I 

 can supply you with all the seed you may need, 

 and I suppose I have now in my corn-house, 50, 

 and perhaps more, stalks with the corn on them 

 as it grew in the field, and none with less than 

 four, and some six or seven ears on them. I will 

 with pleasure send you sonie of these stalks, and 

 also some seed corn, if I can get an opportunity. 



Early last spri'V, I 'et George Law, Esq., of 

 Baltimore city, have some of this seed corn ; he 

 sent it to his friend in Illinois, with instructions 

 how to manage it. A fi-w weeks since he in- 

 formed me that the increase was one hundred and 

 twenty bushels on an acre ; that there was no corn 

 in Illinois like it, and that it produced more fod- 

 der than any other kind. I have supplied many 

 friends with seed corn, but some of them have 

 [ilanted it with ot!:er corn, a.nd will, I fear, find it 

 degenerate. 



I have lately been inquired of, if this corn was 

 not later than other kinds? It is rather earlier; 

 certain'y not later. Corn planted in moist or wet 

 soils vvill not ripen so quick as that which is 

 planted on a dry soil. In the former, there vvill 

 be found more dampness in the cob, a'thoiigh the 

 kernel may appear equally ripe in both. In the 

 two last years, the wet seasons have injured much 

 corn that was too early "lofted" or housed. 



I believe I have answered most of your iiiqui- 

 rie.s. I hope I have not exaggerated — I ha\e no 

 motive for doing so. 1 raise but little corn to sell, 

 as tobacco is my principal crop. Should I fail to 

 send you some seed this spring, I will next sum- 

 mer, gather some stalks with the corn, fodder and 

 ta.ssels, and all, as they grow, and send to you, 

 that you may judge yourself of the superiority of 

 this over the common kind of corn. 

 Yours, &e., 



Thos. N. Baden. 



Ho.i. H. L. Ellsworth, 



Commissioner of Patents, ff'ashhigton City. 



REPLY TO MR WHITMARSH. 



( Office of the Genesee Farmer, 

 I Rochester, N. Y., Feb. 14, 1S37. 



T. G. Fessenden, Esq., 



Dear Sir: — I dee|)ly regret that Mr Whit- 

 marsh in his letter, published in your paper of 

 February 1, had not confined himself to state- 

 ments which 1 could have passed over in silence; 

 but in his eftorls to ward off the odium of a most 

 disgraceful fraud on the community, he has so 

 outraged truth, that I feel compelled, by a sense 

 of duty to the public, as well as to myself, to ex- 

 pose the false grounds on which he thus endeav- 

 ors to excite sympathy in his behalf, for I can 

 conceive no other motive Mr VVhitmarsh could 

 fiave had in making the false statements, which I 

 am about to expose, than to convey to the public 

 the idea that he is a persecuted, injured man. I 

 had supposed, from what I had lieard of Mr W hit- 

 marsh, that in the transaction alluded to, his cu- 

 pidity had got the better of his honesty ; and that 

 he did, notwithstanding this misdeed, possess some 

 of the respectability for which he has received 

 credit with the public. If so, his case shows hut 

 too clearly, the truth of the old adage, that the 

 commission of one crime but opens the door to 

 many others. Having shown him, on the testi- 

 mony of gooil anil responsible men, whose certifi- 

 cates I have [niblished, guilty of perpetrating an 

 infamous fraud, fiecause I would not lake his 



